Ramlogan Withdraws Appeal; Ordered to Pay Half of Wasted Costs

Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan has informed attorney Eamon Courtenay that his client, Jeremy Enriquez, has decided to withdraw the request for a fast-tracked hearing filed on February eleventh. Courtenay represents the Attorney General in a case brought by Enriquez and two others about the overdue redistricting exercise. Although the High Court dismissed the claim, Ramlogan appealed to the Court of Appeal, which hasn’t heard the case yet. To speed things up, Ramlogan asked the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for special permission to review Justice Hondora’s decision. Earlier this week, the CCJ dismissed the request, saying it had no merit. In a related update, earlier today, Justice Tawanda Hondora finalized his decision on the claim filed by Jeremy Enriquez, who tried to halt the general election.  The ruling was prefaced by the High Court’s position on wasted costs.  These are expenses caused by a lawyer’s improper, unreasonable, or careless actions. The court can order the lawyer responsible to pay these costs. It’s basically a way to make sure lawyers are held accountable for actions that drive up litigation costs unnecessarily.  Elsewhere in his decision, Justice Hondora wrote, “it is Mister Ramlogan’s omissions and negligence that resulted in the unnecessary and unsuccessful interim applications filed, which were based on fatally defective affidavits, and which caused the defendants to incur unnecessary litigation costs. Had the three applications been dismissed solely on the merits, it is highly unlikely that any adverse costs order would have been made considering the general rules on costs in constitutional matters”.  In this case, the Attorney General was represented by the law firm Courtenay Coye LLP, and it wasn’t done for free. So, Ramlogan has been ordered to pay half of the wasted costs.